Cal Lord: Unexpected blessings are God's special deliveries

Friday

Oct 19, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 19, 2012 at 7:13 PM

As I walked through the doors to the warehouse I took a stutter step and almost tripped over my own feet. What I saw made my jaw drop. It looked like something out of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film. There were two floors visible with a conveyor belt that looked to stretch back and forth, in and out among the stacks of books and gifts. About every ten feet or so was an employee darting from one stack to another grabbing books to fill the boxes that rolled up in front of him or her. As the boxes made their way down to the floor below, they were sealed and labeled through an automated process.

Cal Lord

As I walked through the doors to the warehouse I took a stutter step and almost tripped over my own feet. What I saw made my jaw drop. It looked like something out of Tim Burton’s "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" film. There were two floors visible with a conveyor belt that looked to stretch back and forth, in and out among the stacks of books and gifts. About every ten feet or so was an employee darting from one stack to another grabbing books to fill the boxes that rolled up in front of him or her. As the boxes made their way down to the floor below, they were sealed and labeled through an automated process.

@Body type RR: I’ve been buying books from Christian Book Distributors in Peabody, Mass., for years. I’ve never thought about what happens after I click “purchase” on the computer. I just sit and wait for them to arrive. Yesterday, I got to look behind the curtain and felt a little bit like Dorothy and her friends when they just happened to sneak a peek behind the curtain in Oz. It was nothing like what I imagined.

The reason for my trip up north was an invitation to hear Max Lucado speak. Max writes inspirational books that talk about the way life and faith come together. He is easy to read. I have to confess that he always manages to touch an emotional chord in me. As he describes the many ways that God reaches out to get our attention so that he can declare his love for us, I can’t help but think of the many ways God has intervened in my life with words of hope just when I need them.

I was talking with a friend of mine who was going to his first call as a new salesman. He was nervous. He was afraid that he wouldn’t remember what to say. Then he looked to his side and saw a car with a bumper sticker that read, “Do not be afraid! — God.” He said he immediately knew everything was going to be all right.

I think we have all had experiences like that. We get an unexpected call from a friend or receive a hand-written card in the mail that lifts our spirits on an especially dark day. We bump into a friend who just happens along at the grocery store or the doctor’s office when we are dealing with a difficult situation in our life. We label them coincidences and smile.

Yet I believe that there are no such things as coincidence. I believe that if we were to look behind the curtain, we would see God working diligently to sprinkle his blessings into our lives. There may not be a conveyor belt there, but we would see the vast network of people and places that God is using to keep in touch with us and to ensure that we get regular doses of his grace delivered regularly in our lives.

So next time some unexpected blessing drops in your lap, pause for a moment, look up and say, “Thank you Lord!” for you have been the beneficiary of God’s special delivery system.

God bless. See you in church.

The Rev. Cal Lord is a Norwich, CT., resident and serves as pastor at Central Baptist Church of Westerly. Reach him at calstigers@gmail.com.